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National School Backpack Awareness Day is an annual event begun in 2002 to call attention to school ergonomics and promote occupational therapy's investment in the health and well-being of children. Click here for information on Backpack Awareness events. April is Occupational Therapy Month. Join this month-long celebration of our profession! AOTA has a number of activities and promotional items available. Purchase giveaways for your clients or staff, or take part in a Driver Assessment demonstration, designed to spotlight the growing importance of driver safety, particularly older driver safety and mobility. Click the following link for more information about OT Month 2006. Visit www.imprintmall.com/ot/ to order OT-related promotional products. Special events, such as AOTA's partnership with Rebuilding America , provide community involvement opportunities. Find out how you can volunteer with Rebuilding Together to help elderly and disabled neighbors remain in their homes. Look for Opportunities to Promote OT There are many opportunities to promote the good work you do: Read newspapers and magazines with an eye toward occupational therapy issues. Respond to topical events and local concerns by writing letters to the editor and articles addressing those issues with an occupational therapy perspective. Look at organizations you belong to and events coming up in the community . Think about which groups might be interested in health information from an occupational therapy perspective. Some ideas are health fairs, conferences, school PTA meetings, religious gatherings and community special events that are open to the whole family. Distribute copies of consumer-oriented materials such AOTA's Tips for Living. Create inserts for newsletters, faith bulletins, etc. by adapting or adopting materials found on the AOTA Web site. Many people are facing issues with family members that occupational therapy practitioners deal with every day, and would appreciate information. Organizations will be glad to know that you can provide ready-made copy for their publications. Write articles for the Web . Online health sites depend on submitted copy. Gear length, style, and language to the target publication and develop a piece on relevant experience you've gained in your practice area. Include information and messages about occupational therapy. Send articles pasted into the body of your e-mail. State the issue and why readers will be interested, reference the submitted article, and include your credentials and affiliation. Make the e-mail subject line provocative and attention getting. Inform AOTA of published and posted articles by sending e-mail to praota@aota.org. We love to hear about your successes! Target Special Audiences
Community & Civic Partners Partner with charitable organizations to increase the visibility of occupational therapy in your community. Look for organizations that match your particular skills. For example, many occupational therapy practitioners and students involved in home accessibility and safety issues partner each year with Rebuilding Together, an AOTA partner. Rebuilding Together repairs and rebuilds houses of low-income homeowners, particularly the elderly or disabled, allowing them to live independently and age in place. Occupational therapy home modification skills have added invaluable knowledge to the process. Speak at conferences and events where policymakers and decision makers are present. Make yourself heard when critical issues are at stake. Occupational therapy practitioners and the lives made better by occupational therapy deserve to be represented. For helpful advice on being an effective speaker, read Speaker Guidelines for Occupational Therapy Presentations. Participate in health fairs and school and family events. Be prepared to answer questions about occupational therapy and explain the benefits to the health of family members throughout their life cycle. Be active in your local and state occupational therapy association chapters. Volunteer when a community outreach opportunity presents itself. Encourage state and city government leaders to recognize the contribution of occupational therapy. See OT Month Proclamation. Colleagues and Clients Distribute copies of your written articles or other information about your outreach efforts to your state or district occupational therapy association and to colleagues at your workplace. Encourage colleagues to join you in your community participation and charitable efforts. Recruit colleagues to participate in AOTA-sponsored events such as National School Backpack Awareness Day. Inviteclients and referral sources to special promotional events at your workplace during OT Month each April. For suggestions, read Open House Invitation to Thank Referral Sources. Utilize resources available through AOTA to make the memories of the events last all year long! To see special OT promotional items, go to www.imprintmall.com/ot/. The Media Respond to media coverage related to your practice area. Send specific consumer materials, such as the appropriate Tips for Living, with a cover letter offering yourself or your occupational therapy organization as a knowledgeable resource. Respond to media coverage related to occupational therapy issues. Write a letter to the editor or an op-ed piece focused on the issue to which you are responding. For writing tips, read Getting Your Letter to the Editor in Print. Develop your own articles with tailored messages to meet the specific needs and interests of your target audience. For example, a locally published health or women's magazine may be interested in publishing an article related to child development or an article on home safety and accessibility issues facing aging parents. Include local resources in the article and mention your state occupational therapy association and AOTA. Promote your occupational therapy events through the media. Make sure the event is newsworthy and appeals to the readership or audience of the media outlets you approach. Prepare materials that contain all the information that members of the press will need to write up the event. Be prepared to speak about the event and supporting issues knowledgeably but concisely. Read our guide on How To Reach The Media.
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